He has published two books of aphorism, The Book of Shadows (Picador, 2004) and The Blind Eye (Faber, 2007), and a compendium, Best Thought, Worst Thought (Graywolf, 2008). He has also edited a number of anthologies.

His poetry has won a number of awards, including the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, the Whitbread Poetry Prize, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Award, and the T S Eliot Prize on two occasions. Most recently, Rain won the 2009 Forward prize. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a Fellow of the English Association; he received the OBE in 2008 and the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2010.

Don has been the poetry editor for Picador since 1996, and is also a musician. We’re greatly looking forward to hearing him read, and advise everyone to come along early to this event, as we’re expecting a high turnout!

Our Shore Poets wildcard slot is also up for grabs! In case you’re unfamiliar with the concept, you basically just need to turn up, clutching one poem (and one poem only), and put your name into our ‘poet hat’ when you pay at the door. One name will be pulled from the hat at the start of the night, and that person will kick off the night for us by reading their poem. We hope you’ll be brave enough to have a go!

Of course, we’ll also have live music on the night — this month, we’re delighted to welcome Tom Fairnie. Tom is an Edinburgh based singer/songwriter with a rich background of performance and recorded collaborations with other poets and musicians. You can read more about him at his website.

And last but not least, you’ll also be able to buy tickets for our infamous lemon cake raffle.